Trump meets with royal family at Buckingham Palace ahead of talks on trade, Brexit
The president arrives in the U.K. to discuss trade and shared economic interests; Kevin Corke reports.
President Trump is meeting with the greatest leader the world has known for the last six decades, plus. A leader who doesn’t get nearly the credit she deserves for the intelligence, strength, diplomacy, class, personal faith, and sense of duty and service she has demonstrated during her rule.
That leader being Queen Elizabeth II.
As Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said: “Ministers take their regular meetings with the Queen very seriously…they are quite business-like, and her Majesty brings to bear a formidable grasp of current issues and breadth of experience.
QUEEN ELIZABETH HAS RIGHT ROYAL WELCOME FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, MELANIA
There have been few presidents of late who value real-world experience and intelligence more than President Trump. With Queen Elizabeth II, President Trump is in the presence of the very personification of such real-world experience, resolve, judgment, and grace.
The most important thing he can do for himself and the United States, is to simply listen to her words. Be it at the official State dinner or later if afforded the chance.
Really and truly listen.
Hear the thoughts, wisdom and advice of living history.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, listening to the U.S. national anthem during a ceremonial welcome in the garden of Buckingham Palace. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Learn from Britain’s longest-serving monarch. One who began consulting with then Prime Minister Winston Churchill and witnessed the evils of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
Queen Elizabeth II assumed the throne in June of 1953. Just months after President Harry Truman left office. Since then, the administrations of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama have come and gone.
A real and meaningful conversation with the queen is not only an amazing opportunity but could prove to be the best and most lasting leadership course the president will ever receive.
Two years and four months into his first term, President Trump has the rarest of chances to learn from a leader in power for 66 years. A leader who has governed continuously since Trump was 7 years of age and seen and heard it all.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron once described Queen Elizabeth II as: “A rock of stability in a world of constant change.”
She is that, and a great deal more.
First lady Melania Trump with Queen Elizabeth II and President Trump at Buckingham Palace on Monday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
While “Keep Calm and Carry On” now adorns millions of T-shirts and tourist trinkets, it is the actual lifelong philosophy of the queen. A leader who in her time, has had to deal with riots, terrorism, getting shot at, and even an intruder entering her bedroom.
All the while, never panicking or wavering from her commitment to her values.
While it in-fact may be the duty of British monarchs never to express their political opinions in public, the over six decades since her coronation has given the queen more real-life experience than any leader on earth. Experience which obviously, has forged strong and authoritative opinions on the most pressing issues of our time.
Opinions, which can, at the very least, be shared in private.
Queen Elizabeth II looking at a display of U.S. items of the Royal collection with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump at Buckingham Palace on Monday. (Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS)
If Queen Elizabeth is reluctant to give her thoughts on the issues troubling the world, then President Trump must be wise enough to ask her to do so. If not on this trip, then later.
He could have no better tutor.
A real and meaningful conversation with the Queen is not only an amazing opportunity but could prove to be the best and most lasting leadership course the president will ever receive.
Said former Prime Minister Tony Blair to that very point: The Queen “has a huge history to draw upon…the accumulated amount of experience and knowledge is immense and very valuable for whoever is Prime Minister.”
Or…President of the United States.
President Trump is meeting with the greatest leader of our time. Rather than getting caught-up discussing ceremonial filler, he needs to recognize the wealth of information and knowledge sitting across from him, and find a way to engage her in actual policy discussions.
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That, would be his duty to our nation.
World history handed down from a leader who has lived and experienced it for almost a century. A life-lesson and political gift more valuable than the crown jewels.
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